Caught in the Crowd
by The Original Horcrux
Summary: Rose Weasley; popular, pretty and outgoing. Scorpius Malfoy; obnoxious, loud and arrogant until, suddenly, he wasn't. A Malfoy without arrogance is like a bird without wings and Rose has always been too nosy for her own good.
1. one

PART I - _we were silent for a while until he started to talk._

* * *

**~ ONE ~**

I don't think, nor have I ever thought that you could count Scorpius Malfoy and I as friends.

Then again, I don't think you can count us as enemies either. We don't talk that often at all and sitting next to him in the one class that we have together – incidentally the one that we were forced to work as a pair - has actually become bearable. To think that just a year previously we had both been ripping each other's throats out over some stupid thing that likes to call itself family pride.

I don't know what happened to him over the course of the summer holidays between fifth and sixth year. He came back quieter, shyer and carrying all the characteristics of someone who was most definitely _not_ a Malfoy. He had stopped hanging out with the huge group of Slytherins in our year that liked to call themselves 'popular'. Well, they were most certainly known around the school, but in my books 'popular' means well-liked, and this group of Slytherins were definitely not well-liked by anyone. He had started taking long walks around the grounds during free periods and break time; he started hanging out in the library more often although he never really opened a book, more just stared off into space. He intrigued me now more than ever. All of those unanswered questions about his sudden change of character made my head spin.

I guess you don't really miss the fighting until it stops. I know that sounds terrible, but I sort of did miss being at Scorpius' throat every other minute, it had become a routine part of my life and to have it suddenly stop was unusual and unwelcome, but completely welcome at the same time.

It was one of those situations that I didn't know whether it was good or bad. Scorpius had become a shy, quiet person and for someone who has only known him as an arrogant, bigheaded, obnoxious human being, it was strange having him change so suddenly.

His friends hadn't seemed to notice, despite the fact that he had been their leader not six months ago. It seemed like nobody noticed Scorpius Malfoy's sudden change in character. When I asked my friends and cousins, they just shrugged and changed the subject. Maybe it's just something that I haven't heard, or it's just something that people don't talk about, but my mother has always told me that I'm too nosy for my own good and I am determined to get to the bottom of this, without sounding too much like a cheesy detective novel.

~0~

"Rose, you're staring at him again," Adeola said, nudging me slightly as we ate dinner on the Friday night of the first week back.

"What?" I said, jumping slightly and dropping the chicken leg that I had been holding to my mouth, into my lap, where it proceeded to bounce – what the hell? Meat bounces? – Into Ella Longbottom's, who happened to be unfortunate enough to be sitting beside me.

"You're staring at Malfoy again," Adeola giggled, pointing over at the Slytherin table where the solitary boy with the platinum blonde hair was eating his dinner.

"I am not!" I protested immediately, "I was staring at the stained glass windows."

"Sure you were," Adeola said sarcastically, turning to Freema on her right and giggling again, sounding awfully like twelve year olds, "I think Rosie's in _love_," she drew out the word love teasingly.

"Shut up Addie," I said, rolling my eyes, "Stick to Freema and stop getting involved in other people's love lives."

"So you do love him?!" Freema piped up eagerly, leaning across Adeola to get closer to the gossip.

"No," I said flatly, "and even if I did, it wouldn't be any of your business."

"You're boring," Adeola said in disappointment as Freema snaked backwards into her seat on the other side.

"Why are we all seated in a line?" Ella asked, leaning forward and looking down at Adeola and Freema, "Get on the other side of the table so we can chat properly while we wait for the boys and Nicolette, what's taking them so long anyway?"

There was an outbreak of grumbling from Freema and Adeola, but they relented and scurried underneath the table to sit on the opposite side.

"So, what's the latest gossip?" Freema asked.

I rolled my eyes, "I don't listen to gossip, Freema, you know that."

"I was asking gossip girl over here," Freema said, jerking her head at Ella.

"Well," Ella said as Adeola and Freema leaned in anxiously, waiting for something that they could gush over, "Corey asked me out yesterday."

I sprayed my pumpkin juice all over Adeola, "What?!" I exclaimed, coughing violently. Ella nodded excitedly as Freema squealed with delight and Adeola siphoned off the pumpkin juice from her t-shirt, "What did you say?"

Ella rolled her eyes exasperatedly, "Yes, of course."

I screwed up my face and shook my head, "Really? El, he's not even that good looking."

"It's the personality that counts," Ella said firmly. I was about to open my mouth to retort when she started waving at someone over my shoulder. I turned to see the smiling faces of Nicolette Creevey, Jack Harper and my dear cousin Albus Potter walking up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables.

"What took you so long?" Ella asked as Nicolette slid in between Ella and I and started helping herself to chicken.

"Mister Potter over here decided to blow up a cauldron," Jack said as he and Albus sat down on either side of Freema and Adeola.

"Why?" I asked disapprovingly, my eyebrows raised at my cousin's stupidity.

"Because it was too good an opportunity to miss," Albus said, piling his plate high with vegetables and meat.

"Now I would expect that behaviour from Jack, but not from you," I said, looking disapprovingly at Jack who grinned back at me, "Maybe he's rubbing off on you."

"Wha' are 'ou, my 'other?" Albus said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. With another eye roll, I let Albus shove his face with food. He was right, I wasn't his mother and whenever he pulled that excuse I always felt stupid.

I found myself staring at Scorpius again as Jack recounted exactly what Albus had done to make a cauldron blow up so badly that he and Nicolette had had to stay for hours afterwards to help clean up the mess.

Jack Harper was a complete enigma to me. He was also absolutely stunning and gorgeous, the object of every girl's fantasies with his hot body and American accent. But then there was the fact that he was completely gay… well, more omnisexual actually. He'd shag a girl if the opportunity arose, but mostly he just stuck to blokes. I knew for a fact that Nicolette had gone out with him at one point, but it had only lasted for a week because after being friends for nearly five years at that point, she and Jack didn't know how to be anything more than friends… that and Jack had told her that he was really just gay but opportunistic.

Jack and Nicolette got on well, better than the rest of us and Jack actually. It was probably because both of them were not born in England. Both had one English parent and one foreign parent; Nicolette's mother was from France, and Jack's father was American, but he had been sent to England to live with an aunt at six years old because his parents had been killed in an explosion.

Then there was Adeola and Freema, or better known as the twins. Of course, they weren't really twins at all, but they looked incredibly alike and shared enough common interests to be twins. They even finished off each other's sentences and were rarely seen without the other by their side. Although they had assured me on numerous occasions that they were both straight, I couldn't help thinking that something was going on between them. They had a friendship that was closer than friends, but less than lovers. I guess you could call it an intimate friendship if that sort of thing even exists.

Then there was Ella. She and I have known each other since birth, and seeing as we're only born a few months apart, that's quite a long time. As a child, I had spent more time at her place than I had at my own, and as a teenager, she spent more time at mine than she did at hers. It was nice to have someone around the place when I was a child that wasn't Albus.

And now we come round full circle to Albus, who has been pining after Nicolette for nearly three years now, however, that love seems to be unrequited, although he's never acted on it so who knows. Nicolette remains blissfully oblivious to this day.

"… and then, Slughorn was all 'you all clean this up now or I'll be calling your parents' and Jack just turns around and says to him, 'good luck with that, my parents are dead,'"

I was brought back to reality as Albus finished off their recount of their misadventures in potions and everyone else banging the table and struggling to breathe as they laughed their heads off. I smiled fondly at them as they tried in vain to pull themselves back together. Sometimes I had no idea why I was friends with such a weird, diverse bunch of people. We did fit well together though, I had to admit. If we didn't then we wouldn't be friends today.

I felt my eyes starting to get heavy as the dessert finally faded off of the plates, but all thought of sleep was driven from my mind as I remembered the stack of homework waiting for me back in Gryffindor tower.

"Did Slughorn give you any work?" I asked Jack as the seven of us made our way back up to the common room, "We got truckloads from Halmarick."

"Nah, he was too busy yelling himself hoarse at Al," Jack grinned, "Got a bit from McGonagall though, way to ruin a week, don't you reckon?"

"Tell me about it," I said, rubbing my eyes as I dragged my feet up the many stairs.

Talk quickly turned from what we had done over the summer holidays to complaints about how much work there was to do before Monday. We were in sixth year and the teachers had all explained to us on the first day back that this year was all about preparing us for our NEWTs which would take place the next year. If you asked anyone else, they would tell you that it was absolutely ridiculous, but I can see the way that the teachers are thinking; if they get us into good study habits a year before the exams, it won't be so hard to adjust.

"I'll tell you what though…" I said, hurrying to catch up with Jack when something barrelled into me at full force, knocking me into Freema,

"Watch it," Jack said, walking up to the blonde boy who was carrying a large book. That was when it struck me, it was Malfoy. I don't know how it could've escaped my notice that he had snuck out of the Great Hall during dinner. I guess that I was too interested in the Chocolate Gateau that had made its way to the dessert menu.

"Malfoy," Jack spat, "You're still out to cause trouble aren't you?"

"No- I didn't mean, I-" Malfoy stammered, refusing to look up and meet Jack's eyes.

"Look, why don't you just go and slither back to your snakey friends and leave Rose alone for once," Albus said, backing Jack up.

"Yeah," Jack said, "Run along before I smash your face in."

"Hey," I said, finding myself putting my hand on Jack's arm to restrain him, "He didn't mean to run into me."

Both Jack and Albus looked taken aback at the sudden change in heart for me. I smiled at them before turning to Malfoy, who was still in the same position.

"Just look where you're going next time, okay?" I said kindly. Malfoy nodded fervently before turning around and running off. I turned back to my friends to find them all looking at me with their mouths slightly open.

"What?" I asked, walking past Jack and Albus towards Freema, Adeola and Nicolette who stood frozen half way up the steps.

"Since when have you ever been nice to Malfoy?" Jack said, completely puzzled.

"Since Malfoy stopped being antagonistic," I said, not turning back as I took the stairs two at a time. I could still hear them behind me which meant that they hadn't died of shock, but I still wasn't sure what had made me stop Jack and Albus from putting Malfoy in his place. He had seemed shy and weak when Jack had started to reprimand him, whereas he would normally sneer in his face and slither off.

"I hate it when she uses big words," I heard Jack mutter to Nicolette from behind me. I found it incredibly hard not to laugh.

"Hey," Ella said, running to catch up to me, "What was that all about?"

"He didn't mean to run into me, Ella, didn't you see that?" I said exasperatedly as we reached the portrait hole.

"Yes but he's in Slytherin, when are we ever nice to Slytherins?" Ella asked before turning to the portrait hole, "lantern," she said and the portrait hole swung open, revealing the comfy, plush armchairs of the Gryffindor common room.

"Look, Ella, he didn't mean to do it and I'm not going to have him beat up for that. If I want him beat up, I'll _do it myself_," I said, emphasising the last three words as Jack and Albus walked past me. Jack winked while Albus did nothing.

"Why has your attitude towards Malfoy changed over the summer?" Ella asked curiously. I opened my mouth to say exactly why it had, but shut it abruptly, remembering what Ella had said the last time I had brought it up to her on Wednesday afternoon when we were doing homework together in the library. She had told me that it wouldn't last long.

I just shrugged. Ella pursed her lips at me before turning around and striding to the opposite side of the room where Freema, Adeola and Nicolette already had their work spread out over the table and were making a start on it so that they wouldn't have to have the usual Sunday night/Monday morning rush to finish it before classes started.

I summoned my bag down into the common room and sat down at a separate table near them and spread out my work, starting with my favourite subject, Transfiguration, and working my way through them in order of which I liked best, which meant that potions was on the bottom.

It was hard to concentrate on my work when my mind was so evidently somewhere else. It was still back in the corridor with Scorpius, running over and over the events that had happened, completely over-analysing the way that he hadn't looked up at Jack when he had started to berate him. The way that he had stammered when he had talked, the way that he had run off so quickly when I had spoken to him.

"I'm going to bed," I announced no more than twenty minutes later when it was obvious that I was not going to be able to concentrate any time soon.

"G'night," Adeola grunted softly. The rest were silent as they worked diligently on their homework.

I picked up my books and put them neatly back into my bag and slug it over my shoulder. It had been a long week, and the next was sure to be even longer.

* * *

**AN: Okayyyy, so hello friends new and old. I didn't expect to be publishing a new multichapter story so soon, but this idea came to me and I couldn't shake it and now that I've gone and planned it to the final chapter I have no choice but to write it. **

**People may recognise Ella from my other Scorrose multichip **_**Light of Day**_**, but all of the others are brand new, although I did steal Adeola from **_**Light of Day **_**as well. It's strange not writing Rio, Mae and Jade but I'm rather attached to Adeola, Freema and Nicolette already. **

**Anyway, I've written this for a few challenges on HPFC as well:**

**The Multi Chapter Challenge – Round 1 **

**The OTP Bootcamp – Prompt #19: Kindly**

**The Multi Chapter Bootcamp – Prompt #39: Focus**

**The Songfic Bootcamp – Prompt #47: Always (Song: **_**Caught in the Crowd**_** by Kate Miller-Heidke)**

**I would really love to know what you thought of it so far and reviews will always be appreciated. **

**Until Next Time**

**~The Original Horcrux~**


	2. two

**~ TWO ~**

"Honestly," Nicolette groaned, throwing down her quill in frustration and massaging her temples, "You'd think that we were taking NEWTs this year instead of next!"

"Agreed," Jack said, also putting down his quill to stretch, "I don't even know if this is humanely possible to finish. I swear teachers forget that we have like six other subjects that we get homework for."

"Well," I said, biting my lip as I stopped scribbling away at my potions essay, "At least we have frees, that makes it a tiny bit better."

"Yeah, but not much," Albus snorted, "Just because you don't have anything better to do doesn't mean the rest of us are anti-social."

"Yeah, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that, Albus Potter," I said, smiling sweetly at him and returning to my essay. I have this problem where once I get going I can't stop or I'll lose the flow of my writing and the essay will be bad.

"Where's Freema and Adeola?" Ella questioned, looking up from the book she was reading for Care of Magical Creatures.

"Probably having sex in a broom cupboard," Jack smirked. The rest of us rolled our eyes. Completely typical of Jack to say that, he'd been saying mildly suggestive things since third year and it had really only escalated from there.

"Must everything be sexual with you?" Nicolette asked exasperatedly.

"Yes Nic," he grinned, "Yes it must."

None of us were really surprised at that, it came from being around Jack for most of your life. It was only then that I realised how weird this conversation would sound out of context and sincerely hoped that Madame Pince wasn't listening from behind one of the shells, because she was going to be incredibly confused if she was.

"Well, I'd better get this done," Nicolette said grudgingly, picking up her quill again and pursing her lips as she returned to the essay she was writing, trying to make her handwriting as big as possible so that she could fill up the space that was needed. With a sigh of exasperation, Jack followed suit.

I glanced up at the clock, checking to see how much time left we had before we had to head off to classes again. There was only eight minutes left. My hand immediately increased speed as I finished the bulk of my essay and moved onto the conclusion, my eyes flicking from the textbook sat in front of me to the piece of parchment that was being written on so quickly that I wasn't even sure myself that I'd read the words on the page.

"Rose, you're going to give yourself a brain aneurysm if your eyes move any faster," Jack said with a smirk. I shot him an annoyed glare.

"No," I said, "My eyes are going to be really sore after this. What homework are you doing anyway?"

"Ancient Runes," Jack responded.

"Jack, did you even attempt the Defence Against the Dark Arts homework?" I asked, raising an eyebrow while I scribbled down a conclusion paragraph in my cramped handwriting.

"No," he said without shame, "I don't particularly like Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Jack!" I scolded, "Just because you don't like the subject doesn't mean you don't do the homework for it!"

"Yeah it does," Jack grinned, "Since when have I done homework for subjects I don't like?"

I stopped and pursed my lips, he had a point. Jack was famous for only doing what he wanted to do, which included but was not limited to; homework, writing people letters, getting out of bed in the morning and obeying teachers. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor teachers that had to put up with Jack in their classes.

"Rosie," Ella said softly, putting her book down and placing a hand on my arm, "You need to calm down. You're stressed out and you're taking it out on Jack and I'm not sure he appreciates it."

"I'm not stressed!" I said, "I just don't want any of you guys to fail your courses and it's not likely that Jack is going to pass if he hasn't done any of the homework."

"Rosie," Nic said, putting her hand on my other arm, "Just worry about yourself, we'll worry about ourselves and you can worry about yourself. You're not going to benefit from worrying about us."

I sighed, she was right. I had always cared too much about other people, worried about how they were going to pass their exams instead of how I was going to pass mine, thinking about how badly it would affect them if they didn't do their work. I was like the freaking mother hen of the group.

I opened my mouth to respond, but I was literally saved my embarrassment by the ringing of the bell. I had never been gladder to hear that bell in my whole life, "C'mon," I said to Jack and Nic, "Let's go,"

We said our goodbyes to Ella and Albus who were heading off to Divination, a subject that I had taken in third year and promptly dropped as soon as I got the chance, and met up with Adeola and Freema, who actually _did_ look like they'd been having sex in a broom cupboard but assured us that they had just been practicing for Quidditch trials, as they made their way to Charms.

"So Jack," I muttered as we walked into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and sat down, "What's your excuse this time?"

"You'll see," Jack grinned as he pulled out his quill and exercise book, "Although I will tell you that it has something to do with the essay that we all handed in last week."

"You actually did that?" I asked, shocked,

"I needed it as ammunition for this excuse. I like to plan things ahead, see," Jack said with a wink.

"He's unbelievable," I muttered to Nic, who rolled her eyes, smiling affectionately at Jack. They had a friendship that gave so many mixed signals it was unbelievable. I rolled my eyes, biting back a sarcastic retort as the teacher, Professor Myles, walked into the room.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was by no means my best subject, in fact as far as subjects go, it's probably closer to my worst. Practical work is the worst, I hate it and unfortunately in Defence Against the Dark Arts, most of it is practical work. It's not that I don't enjoy cursing the shit out of Jack and Nic (because that's the kind of friendship that we have) It's just most of the time I'm too damn lazy to get out of my seat, that and I prefer to write.

Professor Myles was definitely _not _one of my favourite teachers. She was bitter, sarcastic and incredibly harsh, but it meant that she kept most of the Slytherins in check so I wasn't complaining much.

Professor Myles waved her wand and the chalk flew into the air and started to write across the board, instructing the class to take out the essays on the unforgivable curses that she had assigned us last lesson and then proceed to read and answer the questions on page five of our textbook.

I pulled the essay out of my bag and positioned it at the top of my desk, ready for Professor Myles to come around and collect it. The class was deadly silent save for the scratching of quills as people opened to page five and started to answer the questions, every single student inside was afraid of being on the receiving end of Professor Myles' wrath, except Jack, apparently.

I turned my head sideways, giving him a silent glare as he made the biggest racket in getting out his textbook, chatting nonchalantly to Corey Finnigan who was promptly ignoring him as Professor Myles' stared at Jack with a disapproving look on her face. Jack noticed this and smiled, giving her a cheeky wave as he did so. I must say I do admire his courage. He turned back to Corey and started to chide him about his relationship with Ella, which, according to Ella, hadn't progressed much.

Before I knew what was happening, Professor Myles was in front of Jack's desk, glaring down her nose at him. If Jack noticed, he showed no sign of being affected by it.

"Mister Harper," Professor Myles said, clearing her throat and Jack broke off his one sided conversation with Corey and looked up at her with a smile on his face.

"Hey Professor, what's up?" Jack asked.

"Would you like to tell me where your homework is?" she asked as she collected mine.

"Well, Professor," Jack said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands, "I have a very important question for you."

Professor Myles raised her eyebrows as if she was daring Jack to say another word.

"Have you marked our last essay yet?" he said with complete confidence. Professor Myles looked at him quizzically before answering slowly and calmly.

"No, Mister Harper, I have not, because believe it or not, I do have other students' homework to mark."

"Yeah?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow obnoxiously, "Well I have other teacher's homework to do.

I was one of the few people in the class that managed to stop myself from laughing. This was truly Jack's best excuse yet and it had definitely made an impression on the rest of the class as more than ninety-five percent of them completely fell apart laughing. It wasn't all that funny to be completely honest; it was probably more the fact that _Jack_ had said it that was making people lose the almost perfect composure that they had during Professor Myles' lessons. I bit the inside of my cheek hard as I tried to continue working, but unfortunately, Nic had completely lost it and was laughing so loud, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole castle could hear her.

I stole a quick glance at Professor Myles' curious to know what her reaction was. It was safe to say that I was not expecting the smirk that had come across her face. To be honest I wasn't sure if her mouth could stretch out of its constant line.

"Well, Mister Harper, that is really quite funny," she said, smirking at Jack who was looking rather pleased with himself.

"Thank you, Professor," he grinned.

"However, it is obnoxious and frankly very rude although I don't know why I expected any less from you," she said, her mouth making its way back into its tight line and I felt slightly relived, "You will do detention in my office at seven pm, every day for the next four weeks."

"But Professor," Jack said cunningly, "If you give me detention, then I won't have time to do your homework."

"I am quite aware of that Mister Harper," Professor Myles said, "Which is why your detentions will run until nine o'clock, rather than eight, which will give you an hour to do your homework under my watchful gaze."

I looked sideways at Jack, who shrugged, giving Professor Myles a 'fair enough' look. That was one of the best things about Jack; he loved mucking up, but he knew when enough was enough and always accepted his punishment, unlike me, who argues for hours and then proceeds to sulk for a week.

Thank you father for giving me your stubborn gene; I would say that it is appreciated, but that would be lying and I don't like lying to people, because that makes me dishonest, and dishonest people you can always trust to be dishonest… okay I'm going to stop now before I make people's brains explode with confusion because that's exactly what that sentence does to me.

Looking up furtively I glanced at Professor Myles, who was writing out Jack's detention slip before proceeding to nudge Jack. He looked up at me, surprised that I was stopping my work to talk to him in Professor Myles' lesson of all places.

"What?" he mouthed.

"That was a good one," I whispered back, smiling slightly, "You even got her to prove that she has mouth muscles."

"Rose, she's married, of course she has mouth muscles," Jack whispered. I hit him.

"Not the time," I whispered to him, "Seriously not the time."

I picked up my quill and resumed the scribbling of my notes just in the nick of time, because surely if Professor Myles' had caught us talking, she would've had my head _and_ Jack's, and I'm a prefect!

I bit my lip as I felt Professor Myles' eyes burning into the back of my head, as if daring Jack to try to speak to me. He didn't, although I could feel him staring back at her defiantly. Sometimes I wondered about him, he was brilliant at school, but never did any work, he was rude to the teachers but the only teacher that ever gave him detention was Professor Myles. He was gay and straight, short but tall. He was a complete contradiction of himself. I stopped myself in mid thought, I'd tried to figure out Jack before, and all I'd succeeded in doing was giving myself a headache.

I forced myself to concentrate on my work, but found that no matter how hard and fast I scribbled down the words, nothing went into my brain and stuck there. I had absolutely no idea why. I'd been using the same work ethic since first year and it had always made me able to remember everything we learned in class. What was so different now?

I slowed the scratching of my quill and turned my attention to the room around me. Jack wasn't doing his work, as per usual, Nic was scratching her quill in the same rhythm that she always did. Professor Myles was overseeing the class as usual and everyone else was working. Everything was exactly the same as before, so why can't I bloody concentrate!?

I lifted my eyes off of my work for one second, just to scan the room. That's when I noticed it; the fact that there was no kicking of my chair. Glancing quickly at the front of the classroom, I made sure that Professor Myles was still writing down the theory work for us to copy down (she was) and glanced quickly behind me and my suspicions were confirmed.

Scorpius Malfoy was not there.

Malfoy sat behind me in almost every class purely so he could annoy the crap out of me by kicking my chair. He had done it so often that it had become a part of the way that I concentrated during class, the things that happen when you're in the same class of people for six freaking years are seriously beyond me.

I seriously never thought that I would say this, but I actually miss Malfoy tapping his foot against the leg of my chair for the entire lesson. It was nice not to have it, but I had become so used to it that not having it seemed weird.

I finished copying down the work on the board without having a single clue what it was about just as Professor Myles started to write up instructions for us for the practical part of the lesson. I bit back a groan. I hate practical so freaking much.

I bumped Jack's arm and motioned to the board, to myself, Nic and then to him. He nodded with a grin and I knew he was seriously looking forward to hitting us with the impediment jinx. My cousin Dominique had taught me the impediment jinx when I was eleven years old so that I could stop Malfoy in his tracks if he tried to bother me, thankfully I'd always been too scared to use it.

Part of me wondered where Malfoy was today, the other part of me didn't care at all and a very small part of me missed his presence. I had the other two beat it up quite severely.

"Alright," Professor Myles said, "Break into groups of three and practise the impediment jinx on each other. The third person will be there to catch you if you fall."

As soon as Professor Myles waved her hand to tell us that it was okay to move, the chatter broke out across the classroom, most people were discussing the first Hogsmeade weekend which was next Saturday or talking about their summer holidays.

"Jack Harper, you're a fucking genius," Nicolette said, walking over to Jack and throwing her arms around him, "That was honestly the best thing ever."

"I take pride in that one," Jack grinned, breaking away from the hug and shoving Nicolette across to an open space where we could practise our spells.

"Even I have to admit, that is pretty damn good," I said, "You're getting better at excuses Jackery."

Jack snorted, "And your nicknames for me are getting worse Ro."

I wrinkled my nose at the awful nickname that Jack had come up with during our second year, "You're horrible."

"You love me," Jack said.

"No," I said obnoxiously, "You love me."

"Sure do," Jack said with an increasingly perverted wink, "You're a hot piece of arse."

I gave him a deadpan look, "You're gay, Jack."

"Bisexual," Jack corrected.

"Same thing," I said with a shrug.

"Not really," Jack said with a thoughtful look, "Bisexual is the ability to stick your hand down someone's pants and be satisfied with what you find."

"JACK!" I shouted as Nicolette completely broke down with laughter. Jack just winked at me.

"You are the most perverted person that I know," I said, hiding my face in my hands, "We should start calling you Captain Innuendo."

"I will accept that title graciously," Jack said again with a wink, taking out his wand and pointing it at me, "Okay Ro-Ro, on the floor, I'm going to hit you with all I've got."

"Not If I get you first," I said, taking out my wand and muttering _impedimenta _under my breath. A jet of red light shot out of my wand and hit Jack square in the chest. He froze in place and then toppled backwards, hitting his head on a desk.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, realising that I had probably shot the spell at him a tiny bit too early.

"Rose you're an idiot," Nicolette said as she crouched down beside Jack and muttered the counter curse, "You okay Jack?"

"You suck at catching," Jack grumbled, putting a hand to the back of his head and rubbing it furiously.

"That one was Rose's fault believe it or not," Nic said, shaking her head at me. I punched her.

"Violence is never the answer Ro-Ro," Jack said philosophically, pulling his hand away from his head and accepting Nicolette's hand to get up off the ground. Nicolette let go of his hand almost immediately, letting him thump about two inches back onto the ground.

"Damnit Nic, what's wrong with you?" Jack said as he rubbed his tail bone which I was sure was going to kill in the morning.

"Jack, your hand is covered in blood," Nicolette said. Jack and I both looked down at Jack's hand. Sure enough, it was glistening with scarlet blood.

"Well shit," Jack said, looking down at it, "Hospital wing for me then?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, nodding fervently, "Come on."

"Professor," Nicolette called out across the classroom to Professor Myles who was correcting Corey Finnigan's technique, "We're just taking Jack to the hospital wing."

Professor Myles nodded and the three of us walked out. By sixth year, we had finally got it into our heads that we could leave the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom without permission to take someone to the hospital wing. Not a lesson went by that someone didn't have to go. Professor Myles didn't even care when we walked out of the room unannounced during practical any more, she knew that people wouldn't leave unless they were hurt, the students at Hogwarts were already scared shitless of her.

"_il y a du soleil,"_ Nicolette remarked as we walked past a window on the third floor.

"How many times, Nic, we don't speak French," Jack grumbled, "English please."

Nicolette rolled her eyes, "I said, it's sunny."

"Yeah," I said, "For the first and last time in history."

"My head hurts," Jack mumbled.

"Oh no shit Sherlock," I said, standing on tiptoe to get a look at the wound. I was surprised at the size of it, "Okay Jack it's quite big," I said, taking off my scarf and pressing it to the back of his head.

"Hold that in place until we can get you to the hospital wing."

"You're so mean Ro-Ro," Jack whined, pressing the scarf into his head, soaking it in scarlet blood, "If you hadn't shot that curse at me I wouldn't have this massive cut."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. It was always my fault when it came to Jack hurting himself. I hauled his free arm around my shoulder and helped him walk towards the hospital wing. Ah well, at least there was sunshine to brighten my mood.

* * *

**AN: I swear there is a freaking pattern with my multichaps. I upload a chapter, and then four months later I upload the second chapter and it kicks off from there. It has happened with every multichap I've ever written.**

**Short authors note this time because I'm going to see Beautiful Creatures in fifteen minutes. **

**I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love it if you could tell me in a review :)**

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**~The Original Horcrux~**


	3. three

_**TRIGGER WARNING! This chapter contains self-harm and suicide attempts, please do not read if you are at risk of being triggered by these.**_

* * *

**~ THREE ~**

You would honestly think that Jack was glad that I'd hexed him when he wasn't aware that it was going to happen. The number of times he had shown someone the scar at the nape of his neck and told them he had got it in a mix up with a manticore, I couldn't count. I don't know why I was surprised, Jack frequently did stuff like this.

"I swear to god," I muttered to Ella under my breath, "I'm going to throw my potions textbook at him if he says that he got attacked by a manticore over the summer one more time."

Ella laughed as Jack recounted the 'manticore story' again to a passing first year, "Let him have his fun Rosie, he's Jack. What do you expect?"

"Not much less," I said truthfully, "I guess that's fair enough, which reminds me, has Jack's latest excuse for not doing his homework been around the school yet?"

"Is that the one where he told the teacher that a blast ended skrewt ate all of the quills in the castle?" Ella asked, racking her brains for the latest she'd heard of Jack's many excuses that tended to travel around the castle at top speed. Apparently this one hadn't.

"Nah, that was like last year," I said, "He even made Professor Myles smile with this one, it was completely brilliant."

"What is it?" asked Ella eagerly.

"I'm sure Jack wants another chance to inflate his already overflowing ego, why don't you ask him?" I smirked, looking at Jack who had already added details to his complete lie of a story. It was funny to watch actually, having known the truth about how had really gotten the scar. By now, the whole school was buzzing with the news that Jack Harper had had a brawl with a manticore over the summer. Jack certainly liked being the centre of attention. I was almost disappointed when Ella poked him hard in the small of the back and got him to tell her his latest excuse for not doing his homework. Jack may like lying to the entire student body, but at least he did it to amuse people.

"Where's Addie and Freema?" Nicolette asked as she cut up her potatoes, "I don't see them that much anymore."

"Come on guys, we've been through this," Jack said, cutting himself off halfway through his explanation to Ella, "Whenever Addie and Freema aren't here, they're off fucking in a broom closet. It only makes sense."

Albus snorted, "Your face is fucking in a broom closet."

"Your mum is fucking in a broom closet," Jack retorted with a cheeky grin on his face. Albus' face immediately flushed a deep scarlet as he sunk lower in his seat. Jack winked at him, making the situation entirely worse. Ella rolled her eyes at the two boys and turned to Nicolette.

"Addie told me that she and Freema were going to get some study done, they're probably in the library or in the common room," she said.

"Okay so maybe not fucking in a broom closet…" Jack started.

"JACK!" I yelled.

"What?" he asked innocently, "I'm trying to state facts here Ro-Ro."

"Enough with the 'fucking' jokes, alright?" I said exasperatedly.

"But they're funny, you gotta admit," Jack said.

"Not really," I replied, "It's weird. They're our friends you know."

"They're still funny," Jack said adamantly, "Nic finds them funny, don't you Nic?" Jack grinned, turning to Nicolette, who had a huge grin plastered across her face.

"Totally," Nicolette said, "It's all in the name of sarcasm, Rosie."

I rolled my eyes in frustration, "I'm going to find Addie and Freema," I said, picking up my books that I'd had spread out to study from while I ate and packed them into my bag, "At least if I'm with them, they won't make inappropriate jokes."

"Come on Rosie, it's all good fun!" Albus, who seemed to have recovered from his embarrassment quite quickly, said with a smile. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Sorry cuz, too much work for me to be having fun right now, you coming to study Ella?" I turned to the smallest member of our group of friends.

"Got nothing to study for until tomorrow night," Ella said, "I've got a full free day tomorrow."

"What?!" I exclaimed, "How is that possible?"

"I only took Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Herbology and Muggle Studies remember? And they were nice enough to cram all of my classes into the first four days of the week and let me have Friday off… so tomorrow I will sleep until noon, eat food with the house elves and sit around reading those muggle novels that Rosie's mum leant me over the summer."

"Switch timetables?" Nicolette suggested, holding hers out half-heartedly.

"No way," Ella said happily, "I like having Friday off!"

"Wouldn't we all," I grumbled, wishing that I had Ella's timetable. I only had five free periods all week, "Not all of us can be that lucky though, and this ginger has to finish an essay by lunchtime tomorrow, so she's going to go and write it while simultaneously revising everything that she learnt in Arithmancy, because Jack was distracting her by groping her leg and seeing if she could keep a straight face." I said, glaring at Jack.

Jack winked at me, "I know you enjoyed it."

"I will seriously squeeze your balls until they fall off next time, Jack," I teased, "See if you can keep a straight face then."

"I just knew you were attracted to me," Jack said with another perverted wink. I gave him a deadpan look.

"Okay, bye," I said to everyone before leaving as quickly as possible while Ella, Nicolette and Albus laughed their arses off. Damn Jack and his answer for everything, it was so bloody frustrating. I was so annoyed at being out witted by Jack, that I walked headlong into a very solid shape that said "Ouch, watch it!"

I stumbled backwards and looked up at who I'd run into, "Oh," I said in relief, "Sorry Bailey."

"Hey Rose," Bailey said, "That's okay. Hey do you know where my sister is?"

"Yeah, she's in the hall with Ella, Albus and Jack. I left because they were making perverted comments." I grinned.

"That sounds like Nic," Bailey said with a small smile, "Where you headed off to?" he asked.

"Library," I said, "Possibly the common room. I've got loads of work to catch up on."

"I feel your pain," said Bailey, "Do you need a study buddy? I'm here if you need one."

"Thanks Bailey," I said with a grin, "But no thanks, I work better by myself. Also, what happened between you and Nic, you've barely spoken since we got back?"

Bailey's hopeful smile dropped from his face, "It's complicated."

"Bailey, I've known you for six years now, I'm fairly professional about the whole 'decoding Nic and Bailey's complicated life' thing."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Bailey's face, "She blames me for what happened to Josephine."

"Ah," I said, wishing that I'd never asked. Josephine had always been a touchy subject between them. Josephine was their youngest sister and the two of them had always been incredibly protective of her and over the summer, Bailey, Nicolette and their elder brother Colin had been watching her while their parents were out. Colin had been practising spells and she'd got in the way. She'd been seriously hurt and had spent months in St Mungos, but once she'd come out, all of her magical abilities had disappeared and she was deemed a squib. I supposed that Nic blamed Bailey for what happened because he was supposed to have been keeping him out of Colin's way.

"You guys are twins, you shouldn't be fighting like this," I said sympathetically, "D'you want me to talk to Nic for you?"

"No, that's okay, thanks anyway Rose," he said, "I'll do it myself, I've been trying to apologise for days now but she won't talk to me, so I'm enlisting Amélie's help."

"That actually might work," I said, thinking of how close Amélie was to Nicolette. There was only two years between her and Nic and Bailey and I knew that Nic was the closest to Amélie out of all of her sisters. Bailey had the right idea going to Amélie for help.

"I'll see you around, yeah?" Bailey said as he started to walk down the corridor and towards the great hall.

"Yeah, see you in Arithmancy," I said, waving him off. I turned towards the Library, thinking of the mountain of homework that I had in my bag and in my dormitory. I sighed, thinking about all of the things that were due tomorrow and decided that it would be best to go and stack them all up and do them all. I turned in the opposite direction, right into a tapestry that lead to the seventh floor. I don't know how I would get through Hogwarts if it wasn't for the short cuts, the castle was too damn big.

"Periwinkle," I said to the Fat Lady when I reached the portrait hole, she nodded at me with a smile and swung forwards to reveal the mostly empty Gryffindor common room. When I say mostly empty I mean that there was one person in there, and it was Adeola.

"Addie?" I said, walking cautiously over to her, she looked like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the way that she was rubbing her temples, "You okay?"

She looked at me with frightened eyes, "I can't do it anymore Rosie," she said tearfully.

"Can't do what?" I asked, "Addie don't you dare think about suicide!"

"I'm not," Addie assured me, shaking her head, "I can't deal with this anymore, I have to tell someone."

"Tell me then," I said, taking both of her hands in mine as I sat down opposite her, "I'm right here."

"I shouldn't Rosie, Freema made me promise not to tell anyone but I just _can't take it_ all on my own anymore. It's affecting me too Rosie and I can't let it do that," Adeola whimpered.

"Addie, calm down," I said, "Just tell me, nobody's judging you, I'll explain to Freema."

"She's going to be so angry at me," Adeola said, wringing her hands together.

"I'll deflect it onto me, I'll tell her that I forced you. Tell me Addie."

"It's terrible Rosie," Adeola said, "I can't do it, I just can't keep it in any longer. Come with me."

She stood up abruptly and hurried over to the entrance to the girls staircase, not looking back to see if I was following. Confused, I stood up and rushed after her, completely brain dead as to what she was talking about.

"Addie, just tell me," I said as I reached the top and walked into our dorm which had the door flung wide open, obviously Addie's doing. I walked in to find no Adeola. There was just our five beds and then the bathroom door flung wide open. It was the mixture of the metallic smell and the sight of the red liquid on the bathroom floor that made it click finally.

"_Fuck,"_ I swore, dropping my bag where I was and hearing it thump with all of the weight inside of it. I didn't care that my inkbottle might've broken because lives were at stake here, "Addie what the _hell?_" I said as my eyes registered what I was seeing. A slumped over Freema sitting on the toilet seat with blood dripping slowly and steadily down her arms from fresh cuts, there were cuts on her stomach and upper legs too. _Shit, shit, shit_. I thought as I rushed over to Freema.

"Free," I said, pulling her face into my hands, "Are you alright?" she was pale and clammy, "Addie why didn't you do anything?" I exclaimed, practically shrieking at Adeola who cowered back. I pulled out my wand and conjured bandages out of thin air which I wrapped tightly around the cuts to stop them from bleeding. Her arms and legs were easy, her stomach not so much. I had to lean her weight onto me to get them around her, which soaked my whole blouse in blood.

"Rosie?"

"Freema!" I yelped, jumping back and almost letting Freema fall onto the ground, but catching her at the last minute, "What the fuck are you doing to yourself?!"

There were tears in Freema's eyes, "Why are you here? Addie was supposed to keep everyone away."

"Freema you need help," I said, looking down at her arms, they were covered in crisscross scars, some of which looked months, even years old, "This isn't something that you should hide."

"Why did you let her in here?" Freema yelled, "I thought I could trust you!"

"Shush, Freema," I said, pulling her up and putting her arm around my shoulders and helping her into the bathtub, "We need to get you cleaned up,"

I turned the shower on which immediately doused her with cold water. She winced as the liquid hit her cuts but she eventually relaxed into the temperature, closing her eyes and letting the drops of the water soothe her.

"Freema, you've gotta keep your eyes open okay?" I said, not knowing if she was going to die of blood loss or not. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at the ceiling as the excess blood from her clothes swirled down the drain with the water. I pulled off the bandages that I'd wrapped around her earlier and let the water wash out the cuts.

"Freema?" I asked

"Mmm," she responded.

"Why?" I asked, looking down at her sadly as I watched more and more blood swirl down the drain as I wrapped her cuts up again, "and how long?"

Freema looked away, "I don't want to talk about it."

I looked around for Adeola, who was still standing in the doorway, watching on, "Can you go and make her bed?" Addie nodded and disappeared immediately. I could tell that she was glad to be sent away from the scene. Judging by all of the scars on Freema's arms, poor Adeola had probably been having to deal with this just as long as she had. I wrapped the third bandage around her leg and turned off the shower head. Freema was practically asleep by this point, "Stay with me for a few more moments' Free, okay?" Freema nodded sleepily as I performed a quick spell that dried her out instantly. I put her arm around my shoulders, careful not to bump where she had sliced her skin and helped her over to her bed, where she lay down and almost immediately went to sleep. I had no idea what was the right thing to do, no idea how much blood she had lost, no idea of anything. I turned to Adeola for help.

"Is there normally that much blood?" I asked, my brow creased in fear. Addie shook her head, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"She didn't want me to," Adeola said tearfully, sitting down on her bed and burying her face in her hands, "She just wanted me to be there."

"You should've told someone, her parents, your parents, a teacher, me! You can't let things like that go because the person doesn't want you to tell. She could've died Addie!"

"So it's my fault?!" Addie said defensively, "It's my fault that I did what my best friend asked of me and didn't tell anyone about her personal issues?"

"Look, Addie I get that you and Freema are loyal friends and shit, but you've gotta forget that stuff and do what's in the others best interests if health is on the line!"

"I know, Rosie, I told you didn't I?" Addie said, tears were rushing down her face now.

"After how long?" I asked angrily, "How long has she been doing this for?"

"Since the end of last year," Addie sobbed, "I noticed her acting oddly and she confided in me a couple of weeks before the end of term. I tried to stop her but she wouldn't, she said that it was the only way to get it out, she crucios herself sometimes as well!"

"_What?!"_ I exclaimed loudly, "Why the hell would she do that? Addie tell me everything that you know because now that this is out in the open between us, it's my mission to help her, okay. I'm not going to be there to clean up after her or comfort her while she hurts herself, I'm going to prevent her from doing any of that and we're going to help her get better! Okay?"

Addie nodded.

"So tell me!"

"I don't know much, just that she can't cope with life anymore. Her father died last year, remember?" I nodded, remembering clearly when Freema's mother had pulled her out of school for three weeks following her father's death, "Her mother is an alcoholic and Freema says that her mother doesn't want her and that pains her so much to hear because she's known her mother as a loving person for most of her life and now she's abusive and Freema says that she can't take it. I tried getting her to talk about it but she said that the only way to get it out is to hurt herself like how her mother had hurt her beforehand. I tried to stop her Rosie, I tried so hard but she told me to stop trying to tell her to stop and just be there for her, so I was there for her and then last week, just as she was getting better, the ministry sent her a letter informing her that her mother had disowned her and she just went right back to the bad place Rosie, she just slipped straight back into that depression and started showing all the signs of committing suicide. Rosie I've had to stop her from jumping off the astronomy tower twice this week! I keep thinking that maybe it'd help for me to cut too and I can't think like that Rosie!"

It was then that it struck me how important this situation actually was, "Addie," I said, "If helping her is making you want to do the same thing as her, then stop. You did the right thing by telling me, although you probably should've helped her and then told me."

"I saw the blood and I couldn't do it Rose, I just couldn't. It was much too much for me to handle," Addie sobbed.

"Calm down," I said, putting a hand on Addie's shoulder, "She's going to be fine, we just have to keep a closer eye on her for the next couple of weeks until we're sure that we know she's better."

I plonked myself down on my bed as I siphoned off the blood that had caked itself into my blouse, almost tragedy or no almost tragedy, I still had a mountain of homework to do.

* * *

**AN: I have to update in really quick succession this week, so you'll be getting a chapter every two days starting NOW! **

**Now, I just feel like explaining that this story will be fifty chapters long, so I apologise if things are moving a little slow and if some characters don't get a mention in some chapters (exhibit a: no Scorpius in this chapter) I just want the first few to be fleshing out my OC's and their personalities, which I would normally try and flesh in with the dialogue in other stories but as this one is required to be fifty, I can afford to do character study chapters :)**

**I'd love to know what you thought**


	4. four

**~ FOUR ~**

I slammed my books down onto the table in front of Nic and Jack.

"_Please_, tell me you have nothing to do in Hogsmeade today," I begged, looking at each of them in turn.

"Why?" Nic asked curiously.

"Because literally _everyone_ is doing something," I said in frustration, flopping back into a chair and opening my Arithmancy textbook, which I swear is heavier than whale and longer than life, "And I'm there going 'anyone want to come to the three broomsticks with me?' but nope everyone hate's Rosie today and nobody wants to spend time with her."

"What are Addie and Freema doing?" Nic asked, a bemused expression on her face as she looked briefly up from her essay.

"Going to the post office and then the shrieking shack," I said, shuddering slightly, "How much more boring can you get, seriously!"

"Well Ro-Ro," Jack said, setting down his quill and leaning across the table towards me, "Has it occurred to you that the reason 'everyone hates Rosie today' is because Rosie doesn't want to do any of the stuff that everyone else is doing?"

I glared at him, not wanting to believe it, even though I knew it was true.

"So?" I said, fighting to keep the scowl off of my face, "What are you two doing today?"

"I'm going to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes with Al," Jack said simply.

"Oh yeah, that's just what I want," I said sarcastically, "To hang around Albus, Uncle George and innumerable amounts of my cousins all day. Not going anywhere near that place."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Suit yourself Ro-Ro."

"Nic?" I asked, turning to Nicolette in hope that I might just have someone to hang out with when we went into Hogsmeade at midday.

Nic's smirk immediately dissolved into a thin line as I asked her the question, "Amélie told me she wanted to meet at the three broomsticks so that I can give her the rundown of Hogsmeade… I told her to ask Phoebe but she wouldn't listen to me, the twat."

"Do you guys _ever_ talk to Phoebe anymore? I haven't seen her in ages," I remarked, chewing on the end of my quill.

"She's hostile and doesn't leave her room much," Nic said, turning the page of the book she was now reading for information and looking back up at me, "But she's fourteen. She's going through the 'I don't want to talk to people' phase. It doesn't help that she's in Ravenclaw and the rest of us are in Gryffindor."

"So," I said, "Hugo's in Hufflepuff and I still talk to him on a regular basis, he's fourteen as well."

"Guys are different to girls," Nic said shortly, "I should know, I have a twin brother."

"Where is Bailey?" I asked, looking around the common room for him. Bailey and I were Gryffindor prefects, "I bumped into him yesterday but I haven't seen him since."

"I don't know," Nic said, shrugging, apparently now very interested in what she was reading. I knew that Bailey might've been a sore spot for her but I didn't realise it'd be that sore. I dropped the subject immediately and started to put quill to parchment again and continued writing my essay which I swear had to be longer than the bloody textbook… and I thought sixth year was going to be easy because we'd finished our OWLs. If only I'd realised that they were probably going to start gearing us up for our NEWTs this early, I wouldn't have slacked off over the summer.

"Rosie, are you coming?"

"Hmm?" I said, looking up from my essay to see Ella standing with her arm wrapped around Corey Finnigan's waist. I felt like puking at Ella's choice in guys, Corey wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box, "Yeah." I said, waving my wand at my things and they packed themselves neatly into my bag.

"What are you going to do while you're there?" Ella asked as Nic and Jack both packed up their stuff, getting ready to leave as well.

"Well seeing as all of you will be doing stuff that I full stop do not want to do, I'll just go and sit in the three broomsticks by myself and do my work," I said, my voice falsely melancholy.

"Oh shut it Rosie," Ella said, "It's not that hard to put up with where someone wants to go."

"I'm lazy okay, Ella, I just want to sit in the three broomsticks all day and drink butterbeer and finish the freaking boatload of homework we have," I said in frustration as we walked through the portrait hole and down the corridor.

"Well you have fun with that while we go and have a good time with each other," Ella said with an eye roll. I scowled at her and turned to Nic.

"What do you think you'll be doing once Amélie is done with you?" I asked.

"I'm meeting Al and Jack in triple W," Nic said.

"Ugh, you're so mean. Come study with me!" I said.

Nic shook her head, "Not a chance, Rosie, I don't want to miss out on any fun to be had."

"Fine, you can all fail your NEWTs and repeat your seventh year," I said angrily.

"Rosie, it's bloody sixth year, we don't have to start knuckling down for a year at least!" Jack said.

I scoffed, "Don't come crying to me when you're all behind on the NEWT coursework. It won't be my fault that you didn't do your work in sixth year."

"Believe what you want, Rosie," Nic said, "We're not going to do work today."

"I hate you all," I mumbled, "Come on, let's just get out of this god forsaken castle okay?"

It was the first thing that had come out of my mouth that they'd all agreed to all morning.

* * *

"Did Amélie tell you when she was going to get here?" I asked, wrapping my hands around a butterbeer as Nic craned her neck waiting for her thirteen year old sister to walk in.

"Nope," Nic said, "I'm hoping it's soon though."

It was as if the fates had read Nic's mind because as soon as the words had left her lips, the bell rang and Amélie walked in, followed by Bailey and Phoebe.

"Jesus here comes trouble," I murmured as Nic stiffened at the sight of Bailey. Amélie spotted us and walked over immediately. It was too late for me to leave now, I was stuck here until the family issues were over, because now I knew why Amélie was here and I knew it wasn't going to end well.

"Hey Nic," Amélie said, "Thanks for meeting me."

"You didn't tell me that _he_ was coming," Nic hissed before Bailey was in earshot.

"And you didn't tell me Rose, was coming… are we even?"

I had to admit, Amélie was good for a thirteen year old.

"What's this really about, Amélie?" Nic asked, "Is this about what happened over the summer?"

Amélie caved immediately, "Yes, actually, it is."

"I don't want to talk to you," Nic said, attempting to get up.

"Sit down, Nicolette," Bailey said, sitting down opposite Nic, which oh so conveniently blocked my escape route, because I was also sitting opposite Nic.

"What do you want?" Nic all but spat as she sat down, glaring at Bailey.

"I want to ask you what I did wrong… after everything with Josie you just shut me out. It wasn't my fault Nic!" Bailey pleaded.

"Of course it was your fault," Nic spat, "You weren't watching her. You _knew_ that Colin was practising spells in his bedroom and you still let her go in there. If you'd just been more attentive this wouldn't have happened."

"Nic it's not like she's dead!" Bailey said feebly, trying to defend himself.

"She could have died!" Nic yelled.

"Why are you blaming me for all of this? Nobody else is! Do you see Mum, Dad, Colin, Amélie, Phoebe or even Josie freezing me out? No! So what is your problem Nicolette?!" Bailey said, only raising his voice slightly. I had to admit that I was impressed.

"I'm done here," Nic said, getting up and pushing past Phoebe and Amélie at the same time.

"Jesus, Nicolette get back here!" Phoebe yelled after her sister. I was surprised to be honest. I didn't hear Phoebe talk all that much, even when she was younger and we would spend summers at Nicolette's house.

It was too late for Nic to be called back though, as she was already half way out of the door.

"_merde," _Bailey muttered under his breath.

"Sorry Bay," Amélie said, "I tried."

"I know," Bailey said, "Thanks Am… you too Phoebe."

Amélie smiled and hugged Bailey while Phoebe just shrugged and turned to walk towards the door, "I'll see you back at the Castle, alright Bay?"

"Yeah," Bailey said absent mindedly as his sisters walked out of the door. As soon as it swung shut, I turned to the blonde haired French boy.

"Sure you don't want me to talk to her?" I asked, "I think she's more likely to tell me what's up right now than she is to tell you."

"Will you?" Bailey asked hopefully.

I nodded with a smile. "'Course,"

"Thanks Rosie, you're a lifesaver," Bailey said gratefully, leaning over the table and hugging me tightly, "I just don't get her sometimes… even if she is my twin sister. I know we're supposed to know each other inside out but girls are really weird."

I snorted, "Thanks Bailey."

"_je vous en prie_," he said with a grin as he got up.

"Bailey, you know I don't speak French," I said, disapprovingly, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow at him. Bailey chuckled.

"Don't worry Rose, I just said 'you're welcome'."

"That' better be all you said!" I said cheekily as Bailey made his way towards the door, "See you around Bailey!" I called after him

"_Au revoir _Rose,_ merci_!" I heard Bailey call back to me in French just to piss me off. My French skills didn't extend beyond that of 'merci' and 'bonjour', I figured that if I was going to go to France that would be all that I would need because in the event that I ever make it to France, I'm either going to have Nic, Victoire or Dominique with me. Foreign languages really aren't my thing and I don't intend to make them one.

Sighing, I resigned myself to hours of boring study accompanied by nothing but butterbeer. I drained my current class and immediately ordered the new one as I spread out my Arithmancy homework all over the table and began to read through the longer than life textbook.

I knew that it was time for me to stop with the Arithmancy when I started nodding off on my book. It probably didn't help that the heating was on in the three broomsticks _and_ I had about three butterbeers in my system. Shaking my head, I slammed the Arithmancy book shut and pulled a spare roll of Parchment and my Defence Against the Dark Arts notes out of my bag before promptly ordering a Gillywater to help me stay awake.

I had barely written two words, however, when something caught my eye. I looked up to see that I wasn't the only one studying alone today… none other than Scorpius Malfoy was sitting across the room from me, studying like there was no tomorrow as his hand flew across the page as he wrote line after line on what looked like an essay.

Damn I wish I could be that attentive.

Before I realised what I was doing, I had picked up all of my books and parchment and was walking across the room towards Malfoy's table where I promptly sat down… no greeting, no asking if anyone was sitting there. I just plonked myself down opposite to him. _That_ was when I realised what I was doing… and there was no turning back now.

Malfoy looked up at me briefly with a confused look on his face before looking back at his work quickly, still scribbling across the parchment with his quill, the flow of writing still going at its steady pace… it was as if Scorpius hadn't stopped writing when he had looked up at me.

I took his lack of protest as a sign of welcome and decided to make myself at home now that I had someone other than myself to study with. I ordered another Gillywater and continued work on the Defence Against the Dark Arts essay.

Professor Myles must've had some sort of heart, because it was one of the easiest essays I've ever had to write for that subject and for that I was thankful… if that had been harder I probably would have a lot more issues trying to get my homework done.

As I started on my homework for Transfiguration, something on Malfoy's hand caught my eye ever so briefly. I attempted to look closer without him knowing that I was looking, which resulted in my eyes becoming very sore. As far as I could tell it looked like a scar, but scars didn't heal black and Dark Marks were on the left forearm, so he wasn't a Death Eater… what was that mark? I strained to get a closer look at it before his hand moved but it was out of luck it seemed and Scorpius shifted his hand to the other side of his parchment, making it impossible to see the mark from my position.

From memory, I quickly sketched what it looked like in the corner of my parchment… I couldn't make head nor tail of it… it seemed to be a black marking on his hand and nothing more. I was pretty sure it had some sort of significance because of the fact that people don't just have black marks inked into their hand but that was going to have to be a project for another day.

_BOOM_

I almost jumped out of my skin as a resounding noise shook the three broomsticks, making my Gillywater spill all over my finished Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. I swore loudly as I realised what it must have been from… there were only two shops in this village that could make that sound and only one was close enough to the three broomsticks for it to break peoples glasses.

I knew I shouldn't have let Al and Jack go into Weasleys Wizard Wheezes alone.

* * *

**AN:** **I kept telling myself that I wouldn't go to sleep until it was finished and now its ten past one in the morning and this is done so I guess that means I can sleep? Blame all SPaG errors on my determination to make myself sleep deprived by writing fanfiction when I should be sleeping. **

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'd love it if you could leave a review!**

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**~The Original Horcrux~**


	5. five

**~ FIVE ~**

"You blew up the shop," I said, my mouth falling open in disbelief. "You blew up Weasleys Wizard Wheezes."

"Well we didn't blow it up," Jack said, "Technically the roof just came off and besides, nobody was hurt Rosie. It was innocent fun."

"Innocent fun?" I said angrily, "Innocent fun is tickling someone that you know is ticklish. Jack if that's your idea of innocent fun then you need to see someone right now!"

"Calm down Rosie, you're acting like we killed people," Al said, rolling his eyes.

"Well you could've!" I said, "If that explosion had been stronger people would be dead right now."

"Yeah, well it wasn't," Jack said, "So skip the lecture Rosie Rose… where's Nic?"

I sat back down at the table in the Gryffindor Common Room and massaged my temples, "You're going to be the death of me Jack Harper."

Jack grinned at me, "And you'll love me for it."

I rolled my eyes exasperatedly as I waited for Adeola, Freema and Nic to show up. I wasn't expecting Ella for hours as she was on a date and most of us knew by now that when Ella went on a date, she didn't return for hours after the date was supposed to be over. Jack and Albus were getting way too much praise for the prank in Hogsmeade from the other students and I could tell it was affecting how much guilt they had about it. I swear I'm going to have to bail one of them out of Azkaban once we get out of Hogwarts.

"How much detention did you get?" I asked, looking up from the essay that was due in tomorrow.

"A terms worth," Jack said, "And we're banned from all future visits to Hogsmeade for the rest of the year."

I snorted, sometimes McGonagall was too soft on them when it came to punishments, "If I was McGonagall you'd be scrubbing floors without magic for the next twenty years."

Al's eyes widened and I snickered, knowing that the thought of this terrified him as he has never touched a cleaning product in his life, "Thank god you're not then, Rosie."

"Rosie would be a shit headmistress," Jack laughed, "She'd be too strict, at least McGonagall knows what humour is."

"Well she'd have to know what humour was, she did teach my uncles for seven years," I mumbled, "and now she's their best customer at the joke shop so the humour comes with experience."

Jack poked me in the side, "You just don't want to admit that she's cool because in Rosie-Land there's no such thing as a cool teacher."

"I'm too tired for this Jack," I said, pushing him away gently, "Can we discuss this in the morning, my head hurts."

"As long as it postpones the Rosie wrath, I'm absolutely content with whenever we do it," Al said. I shot him a dirty glare. I know that Jack and Al mean well when they say these things but sometimes enough is enough and when they don't see that, I start throwing punches. I really, _really_ wish I was kidding.

The portrait hole swung open and I sat up straighter in my seat, hoping to see Addie and Freema who had been gone all day, or even better, Nic who would be able to put Jack in his place a lot better than I could… actually she'd probably just congratulate him.

Instead, Ella walked in, arm in arm with Corey Finnigan, a smile plastered from ear to ear as he whispered in her ear. It almost made me gag because of how sweet I was. Corey may not be that easy on the eyes but he sure knew how to make Ella swoon.

"That's revolting," Jack remarked from his seat as we watched Corey lean down and kiss Ella goodbye. I hit him with the back of my hand as I continued to watch Ella and Corey. There was a look in Ella's eyes. A look that I had seen somewhere in there before but I couldn't quite pinpoint the moment in time. Sixteen years of knowing her is a lot of memories to sort through. Corey whispered something in Ella's ear which made her giggle as she pried herself away from him to walk over to us.

As soon as she was in earshot I reached out my hand for hers, "Details. Now," I said, unable to form any more words.

"What do you want to know?" Ella said softly, still smiling.

"Everything," I said eagerly.

"Well… uh maybe not _everything_, if you get what I mean Ella," Jack winked. I rolled my eyes at him as he moved to sit in front of the fire beside Al.

"Ignore him," I said to Ella, "He's in enough trouble as it is without us rousing on him."

"So it was those two that blew the roof of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes?" Ella said, raising an eyebrow as she asked the question.

"Who else would it be?" I asked, pursing my lips disapprovingly, "Anyway, give me all of the details right now."

"Well," Ella started, blushing a red that could rival my hair, "He took me to Madame Puddifoot's tea shop and we got tea and then he asked me about myself and my family and about my favourite things and such and then I asked him and then when we were walking back, he kissed me and that was it really," Ella said, looking at her lap and trying to fight the smile that was threatening to spread off of her face.

"Whoa, backtrack. He just kissed you out of the blue? Ella, you gotta tell me how this happened," I said, hitting her knee repeatedly as if it would give me more information the more I hit it.

"We were just walking and he started to hold my hand and it was nice," Ella said, biting her lip, "and then we got held up by everyone around Weasleys Wizard Wheezes and he started talking about how much of a good time he had today and that we should do it again and I agreed and we kind of just stood there for a while and he kissed me."

"oh my god, Ella that's amazing!" I said, grinning at her as she smiled at the floor, "He sounds really sweet."

"He is," she said, "are you regretting telling me that I could do better than him now?"

I punched her lightly, wishing that she hadn't remembered that. I should just stop speaking because everything I say comes back to haunt me in some way or another.

"Where's Addie and Freema?" I asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Fuc-"

"Don't you dare, Jack," I said, turning around and holding a finger up at Jack to silence him. He just grinned at me and stuck out his tongue childishly. One of these days I will throw him off of the astronomy tower just to wipe that grin off his face. Don't get me wrong, I love him to pieces, but he's going to be the death of me.

"Rosie," Addie said rushing over to me with Freema close behind her, "Did you see that Weasleys Wizard Wheezes had the roof blown off of it?" He eyes travelled from my grim look to Albus and Jack sitting by the fire looking very pleased with themselves. "Oh," she said, "Of course you did."

"Are you two ever going to stop wreaking havoc at this school?" Freema asked tiredly, sitting down between the two boys. Jack threw an arm around her shoulders playfully.

"My dear Freema, where would be the fun in _not_ wreaking havoc?" he asked, "What would we do with our days and nights?"

Freema rolled her eyes at Jack as he hugged her to his side, "Has anyone seen Nic lately?" Jack asked, "She was supposed to meet us in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes after she met with her sister but she never did."

"She and Bailey had a bit of a blow up," I said gingerly, "She walked out and I haven't seen her since."

"And you didn't follow her?" Jack said, suddenly angry.

"I didn't think she wanted to be followed…" I said, confused as to why Jack of all people was pissed off at me about this. Jack jumped to his feet and reached for his coat.

"Rose for a girl whose supposed to know what other girls are thinking, you're really shit at determining when someone needs help," Jack said, his gaze lingering on me for only a moment before he turned and hurried towards the portrait hole.

"Jack you're not allowed back to Hogsmeade!" I called after him. He didn't reply.

"What's got him all worked up?" I asked Al exasperatedly. Al just shrugged and looked back into the fire. I couldn't help but think that there was something going on between the three of them. They'd all been spending a lot of time in each other's company lately and now that Jack had pulled this little stunt and Al refused to say anything even though I know he's lying. It was more than a bit suspicious.

"Okay Albus, I'm going to refrain from writing to your mother because I'm your cousin and McGonagall's probably given up sending letters home about you and Jack because it's expected of you to do stuff like this."

Al let out a long breath, "Thanks Rosie, Mum told me that she'd eat me if I decided to wreak anymore havoc this year."

I snorted, "Those exact words?"

"Well maybe not those exact words but she did threaten to lock me in my room all summer."

"Quite rightly too," I snorted. Al rolled his eyes at me again as I sat down opposite him, next to Addie who was rubbing her knee with an expression of pain on her face.

"You alright Addie?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, I must've done something to it when I ran up here," she said, wincing as her hand brushed over the cap.

"Do you need help or anything?" I asked, concerned. Addie shook her head.

"Nah, I'll be fine in no time."

"Whatever you say," I said in a resigned voice, looking from her to Freema and Ella who were looking at their feet. I stood up, looking meaningfully at her and jerked my head towards the stairs to the common room. Freema nodded and stood too, giving her head a slight incline to Adeola who immediately got to her feet.

"Can you not?" Albus said, "It freaks me out when you guys do that. At least tell me when you don't want me around."

Addie and Freema rolled their eyes and continued walking towards the staircase, "One day, dear Albus," I said, "You're going to be able to figure it out yourself and we won't have to do this."

Albus nodded, "_Touché._"

Ella snorted, "Save the French for flirting with Nic."

Albus blushed furiously as I turned on my heels and walked after Addie and Freema towards the girls' dormitories.

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" I whispered to Ella the next morning at breakfast as we watched Jack and Nic sitting with their heads together a meaningful distance from the rest of us.

"I don't know," Ella said, "They've been really spacey since last night. Nic got in at around nine and Al said that Jack got in around the same time. Do you think they've started dating again?"

"Nah," I said looking at the two of them, "Look, Nic looks completely freaked out of her mind. Jack's definitely helping her with something."

"How do you do that?" Ella asked in frustration.

"Do what?"

"That!" she gestured to all of me, not giving me any specifications of what she was talking about, "That thing where you just read people like they're words on a page."

I shrugged, "I have a lot of moody cousins."

Ella snorted, "I have a lot of moody siblings but that doesn't make me someone that reads people's faces like they're flash cards."

"I guess I just notice things," I said quickly.

Ella snickered, "No Rose, you're just way too nosy for your own good."

"Shut up," I said, hitting her with the back of my hand, even though I know it's true. I found out about Aunt Audrey and Uncle Percy's divorce before their own children did when I was eleven due to the fact that I listened in on their conversations on the pretext of getting water when I slept over at Molly and Lucy's house that summer. I've also managed to find out who all of Hugo's boyfriends are before he tells me by following him around school whenever he starts to be nice to me. So yes, I am way too nosy for my own good; however it doesn't mean that I'm going to admit it to anybody.

"D'you think we should ask what's wrong?" Ella asked. I shook my head.

"Nah, if Nic hasn't told us, she probably doesn't want us to know yet," I said glancing over at the two of them again and saw that Nic looked positively green with worry and Jack was whispering something furiously into her ear. It couldn't help but make me feel like they were talking about me. I had been kind of harsh on Jack yesterday, and I had tricked Nic into meeting with Bailey too. I wouldn't blame them if they were having a good old bitch session about me.

"Aren't you going to eat anything Addie?" Ella asked, looking over at Freema and Addie who had both hardly touched their food. Freema was never a big eater anyway even before everything that happened this year so it wasn't as much of a surprise for her as it was to see Addie not eating. She normally guzzled everything in sight.

"I'm not feeling too good," she said, leaning down to rub her knee again, "It's probably just a bug."

"Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey?" I asked.

"I'm fine, thanks Rosie," she insisted, "It's probably a twenty-four hour thing. I'll be right tomorrow."

I smiled slightly as I speared a piece of bacon on the end of my fork, "You okay Free?" I asked Freema as she played around with her scrambled eggs, "You look a little peaky."

"I'm good Rosie," Freema smiled a genuine smile, something I hadn't seen from her in ages. I grinned at her and opened my mouth to reply, but my words were drowned out by the bell.

* * *

I don't think I was happier to get out of Arithmancy in my life. It didn't help that my mind was elsewhere the whole time, but we were just revising over everything that we had learned last year, which, to be completely honest, was one of the most boring years I've ever had to endure in Arithmancy.

"What've you got now, Rosie?" Ella asked me as we walked down the third floor corridor.

"Nothing," I said, glad that I didn't have to endure any more classes, I really didn't need any homework tacked onto what I already had to do, "You?"

"Care of Magical Creatures," Ella grumbled. I laughed, happy that I dropped that subject after my OWLs.

"Come on El," I said, grabbing her arm and hauling her after me, "I'll walk you there."

Ella protested feebly, but relented as I started to drag her along behind me, "Why didn't I drop this class, Rosie?" she groaned.

"It's a mystery to me," I said, earning myself a glare. "Will it make you feel better if I sit near the class?"

Ella rolled her eyes, "Rose, I've lost count of the number of times that Jack has tried to do this to make me feel better about taking this subject. And every single time, without fail, he's made it into detention."

"Ah," I said, biting my lip, "Well have fun!"

Ella gave me a deadpan look as I turned and started walking in the direction of the library where I knew I wouldn't be disturbed by anyone. As far as I knew, there were only three other students who had the same free periods as me, which was perfect because while Freema, Addie, Nic and Jack like working in a big group, I prefer to go about my work alone, it's quieter that way.

As the corridors started to quieten down as students made their way into their classes, I was suddenly struck by how quiet the school was. It was almost eerie the way that my every footstep echoed around me like I was the only person on earth. It was like being in a significantly larger library. I wandered down the third floor corridor, torn between going into the common room and writing a letter to my parents and going to the library to work.

I sighed and bit my lip as I looked out at the grounds which were looking absolutely miserable as the rain pounded down. I could barely see Hagrid's hut in the distance and immediately felt sorry for Ella and anyone else who had the misfortune to take care of magical creatures. As I went to turn away from the window, a dark shape sitting near the lake caught my eye. I squinted through the rain that was making visibility hard and could just make out something that was most definitely a human sitting on the banks of the overflowing lake.

Before I was even aware that I had made a decision about finding out who the person was, and why they were sitting by the lake of all places in the middle of a storm, I found myself walking down the marble staircase. There weren't many perks to having a mind that wonders more than it stays on task.

"Why am I doing this?" I muttered as I looked out at the grounds that now resembled a small pond.

"_Impervius," _I said, pointing my wand at my bag and pulling it over my head, wishing that Professor Flitwick would hurry up and teach us how to perform the same charm on ourselves. I performed the same charm on my shoes and stepped out into the rain.

Saying that it was just rain was an understatement. As soon as I stepped off the stone steps and onto the swamp-like grass, I felt like I hadn't taken any precautions against the weather at all. The wind whipped my hair around my face and threatened to knock me over. The rain came at me sideways and within seconds I was completely soaked.

"Shit," I said, taking my bag off of my head and slinging it over my shoulder. There was no point in using it to keep dry now. I could now see that the person sitting by the lake was an older student and a male.

"Hey!" I called, hoping that my voice was audible over the rain, "Hey you! Are you crazy? You're going to get sick if you stay out here any longer!"

I was completely soaked and shivering now, what was the difference if I went talked to the guy?

"Oi, you should probably head back to the cast-" I started, putting my hand on the boy's shoulder and pulling him around to face me, "Oh." I said, seeing the boy's face. It was Malfoy.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" I asked, hoping that Malfoy hadn't noticed my moment of shock.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said placidly, turning away from me and looking back out at the lake.

"I wanted to see who the crazy nutbag was that was sitting out here in the middle of a bloody tornado."

"Well Weasley, you see, by coming out here to see who the nutbag was, you've made a complete nutbag of yourself."

I opened my mouth to retort, but closed it again. Malfoy had a fair point. I sighed heavily and sat down on the rock beside him.

"So why are you really out here, Malfoy?" I asked him, looking curiously at his thoughtful face.

He shrugged, "I like the rain. I like being alone too, and nobody ever comes after me in the rain... well everyone apart from you evidently."

"What do you mean 'nobody ever comes after you'?" I asked, drawing quotation marks in the air with my fingers.

He shrugged again, "When people want to talk to me, I don't want to be around them."

"I can leave if you want..." I said, a part of me hoping that he would say yes so that I could go back inside and be dry and warm, but the other part of me could feel what he was saying, I could feel the calming sensation of the rain as it beat down on me, It made me feel alive and it made my head feel clear for the first time in weeks.

"Only if you want," Malfoy said with a shrug. I didn't say anything. I just simply looked at him. I could remember when he was the object of every girls fantasies with muscle bulging out from under the fabric of his school uniform, but now he looked scrawny, underfed and mangy. Something had happened to him over the summer, but I knew he wasn't going to tell me, and neither was anyone else. My eyes flicked down to his hands which were supporting his chin and the black mark on his wrist caught my eye again.

"Malfoy," I questioned, "What's that?"

Malfoy jumped backwards abruptly, shaking his sleeve down over the mark, "Nothing." He said quickly, picking up his bag.

"Oh, come on Malfoy, are you really going to try that with me?" I asked as his eyes flitted from left to right nervously, "What's on your wrist?"

"It's just an accident, from... potions. I knocked something over and it gave me a burn and its gone black, which reminds me I need to see Madam Pomfrey about it. Nice talking to you Weasley!" and before I could say anything, he had disappeared into the rain.

I rolled my eyes as I picked up my bag and started to head back towards the castle, wondering why I had even decided to come out in the first place. All I had done was sit there and have a pointless conversation with _Malfoy_ of all people which I did not believe a word of. All I knew was that whatever that mark on his wrist was, he didn't want _anyone_ to know about it.

And all that did was make me ten times more curious.

* * *

**AN: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME IT'S BEEN OVER THREE MONTHS I KNOW I KNOW I'M SHIT *hides face* **

**I don't really have any excuses as to why this is late other than the fact that I'm a lazy shit and have spent the majority of the last three months doing absolutely fuck all. **

**So yes, I'm going to try and update this more regularly but don't hold me to anything, I'm notorious for breaking promises. **

**If there are still any of you left, I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter and what you think of the story so far. All you have to do is leave a quick review below. I'd really appreciate it if you did! Thanks!**

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**Nayla xx**


	6. six

**~ SIX ~**

I chewed on the end of my quill absent mindedly as the silence of the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom pressed in on me. The scratching of quills and the smell of ink was the only thing that kept me knowing that I was actually awake and not in some kind of sleep-deprived stupor. I stifled a yawn as I watched a tiny bird flit past the window and felt my eyelids start to droop. I shook myself awake hastily, silently cursing myself for staying up late to finish the homework last night. There was no way that it was in any way worth it, Professor Myles hadn't even asked for it yet. This was a rarity in itself because she was not one to forget about assigned homework.

I felt Nic nudge me slightly and I turned my head slowly down to my work as she tapped her quill over a message that she'd written on a spare bit of parchment.

_You okay? You look a little spaced out_

_I'm just tired_. I scribbled in the margin of my book.

_Same, _Nic wrote back, _I was up all night trying to do all of this homework that we've got. _

_I feel your pain._I wrote, thinking of the hours of wasted sleep I'd spent on this essay in addition to the homework that we'd already been given. I didn't think it was ever going to be possible that I would start to fall asleep in Defence against the Dark Arts, which is one of my favourite subjects normally, but apparently, it was possible. Nic shrugged at me, quickly turning her head back to her notes as Professor Myles rose from her desk and began to walk around the room, looking at how much work we had (or hadn't) done. I looked down at the two questions that I had answered half-heartedly and silently swore as I started scribbling down more detail to make it look like I was putting in effort.

I had just finished writing out the next question when Professor Myles reached our row. You could feel people around you stop breathing as she walked past and I heard Nic draw in a breath as she walked behind us. I expected to hear the familiar _"Move your feet out of the walkway please, Mister Malfoy_" but it didn't come. That's when I realised that Scorpius had cut class again. I resisted looking around only because there was a demon professor standing right behind me, surely about to tell me off for not having done enough work in class. It confused me to the point of wanting to punch something as to why Malfoy hadn't been to a Defence against the Dark Arts class this year. He had been in every other class we'd had together except this one, which was puzzling, since we had been neck and neck at the very top of the class at the end of last year and completely determined to beat each other.

"Mister Harper," I heard from my right and rolled my eyes, knowing that Professor Myles was going to get some kind of Jack sass back in her face at any moment now, "What, may I ask have you been doing all lesson?

I glanced sideways to see Jack look up from his work and grin at Professor Myles, "Well, Professor, you see I have a condition were I can't work in silence, so therefore it makes it completely and utterly impossible for me to work without talking to my dear classmates."

I bit my lip to refrain from smiling.

"Well, Mister Harper, I think that I'd best give you some treatment for your condition through detention; my office at seven o'clock, every night for the next week."

"I would be happy to accept your uh... treatment," Jack said flirtatiously, winking at her.

"Watch it, Mister Harper, or I will make it two weeks," Professor Myles said, walking back to the front of the room to write him a slip.

"No thanks, Professor," he said, grinning.

As Professor Myles looked down at her page I glanced up to try and catch Jack's eye, but it was then that I noticed that he looked tired, like he'd been up all night and his normally vibrant, dancing eyes were dull, almost lifeless. I averted my eyes quickly, wondering how long it had been like that for and how long I had neglected to notice. He looked worse than I felt now that I saw it. I quickly scribbled away at my parchment to avoid a detention, but it was clear to me that my mind was everywhere but on the work we were doing.

* * *

"Alright," I said resignedly, stacking my books up and getting up from the Gryffindor table, "I'm going to the library to avoid sitting in the common room talking to you lot for the next six hours and getting zero work done, coming, anyone?"

"Sure," said Nic, getting up from beside Jack and Albus, "It can't hurt to get some work done once in a while, can it?"

I looked at her with an expression of shock and gratitude on my face. Nic wasn't one to go into libraries unless it was to cram last minute for an exam or if all of us went there together, which wasn't often in itself.

"You sure you're okay, Nic," Jack joked, jumping to his feet and putting a hand on her forehead; "You haven't caught the study disease have you?

"Get off, Moron," Nic said, shoving his arm away playfully, "Haven't you got detention with Professor Myles soon?"

"Ah crap," Jack said, looking at his watch, "I'd better go and have a shower then, last time she told me I needed to shower more, will you ladies allow me to escort you via the library?"

"Yeah whatever," Nic grinned as she slung her bag over her shoulder, "See you guys later tonight then," she said to Al, Ella, Freema and Addie with a small wave as she started to walk off with Jack.

"Yeah," I said, slightly flustered, "see you."

* * *

By the time we arrived at the library, I was starting to think that the only thing wrong with Jack before was a bad night's sleep. He and Nic did not stop squabbling the whole way to the library, pushing and shoving each other playfully until the two of them were pretending to pin each other against walls inappropriately as I looked on with disgust and amusement.

"I swear to god, you two are literally the most immature people I've ever met."

"Rose, we're all immature, that's why we get along so well," Nic said, poking me in the side. I yelped as she ran down the hallway, laughing. I glared after her.

"Nicolette Creevey, I will cut your hair off in your sleep," I said, refusing to chase after her on the grounds that I would not be seen as immature.

Nic rolled her eyes, "You need to come up with a new one Rosie."

"Yeah whatever, come on, we don't want Filch to land us all in detention," I said, turning down the second floor corridor towards the library. I felt them both resent to being sensible as they followed behind me.

"There you are ladies," Jack said, as we arrived at the doorway, "Now I'm afraid that I must leave to avoid being ridiculed about my smell by the teacher I currently have detention with. She obviously does not understand that escorting young ladies to the library is an exerting business."

I shoved his shoulder lightly as he broke off laughing, "Piss off, Jack, we'll see you later tonight."

Jack grinned, "I'll let you know how many insults that Professor Myles can throw at me in the first ten minutes," he said as he walked backwards up the corridor towards the end that had a short cut to the seventh floor, and therefore Gryffindor tower.

I snorted and shook my head as I turned into the library with Nic, "He's one of a kind, isn't he?"

"He's the biggest dick in the world," Nic said, "but I love him."

"Don't we all," I said, shaking my head as I set my books down on the table, "What have you got to do that you've left until the last minute?"

"Transfiguration," Nic said, wrinkling her nose, "It's about a week overdue and I keep telling McGonagall that I'll have it in next lesson and I keep forgetting about it, you?"

"Arithmancy," I said, "We have a group assignment, Bailey's already done his half and now it's up to me to finish it off." I pulled out my Arithmancy textbook and a scroll of parchment and set them on the table before I noticed Nic looking at me stiffly.

"What?" I asked, "Do I have something in my teeth?"

"No," she said through gritted teeth, "It's nothing."

That was when it clicked, "Oh come on Nic, you're not still mad at Bailey for what happened to Josie over the summer are you?"

Nicolette pursed her lips and refused to say anything.

"Nic, come on, he's your twin brother, he couldn't help it that she wondered into Colin's room and distracted him."

"He wasn't watching her like he was supposed to," Nic said through gritted teeth, "She's only six."

"Nic, forgive me for being blunt but you could've just as easily let her slip out from under your gaze too, the both of you were supposed to be watching him, not just Bailey."

Nic bit her lip and then before I could even comprehend what was going on, she was sobbing into her hands. Shit, now I know why people don't normally ask me to help solve their problems.

"Hey, whoa, Nic are you okay?" I said, reaching out awkwardly and patting her arm.

"Oh god, Rose, it's all my fault. I was watching her in the living room and she wanted to play hide and seek so I said okay and she must've snuck in there while I was counting because the next thing that I heard was Colin yelling for someone to call the healers."

"So why didn't you just tell your parents this?" I asked confusedly, moving around the table to put my arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know," she sobbed, "I just panicked and I started to yell at Bailey for not watching her and I made up a story about how I told him to watch her while I went to the bathroom and I've been blaming him ever since for something that I did!"

"Okay, calm down Nic, first of all, you didn't do anything. You were playing a game with your little sister and she wandered off, obviously to hide in Colin's room. Colin just happened to be practising spells. You didn't know she was going to go up there, did you?"

"But it's still my fault," she whispered, "Josie is still a squib because of my carelessness."

"You weren't careless, Nic," I said sympathetically, "You were just being an older sister and playing with her that's literally all you're guilty of."

"That and blaming Bailey for the whole thing," she whispered, still not taking her face out of her hands.

"Hey, you should just talk to Bailey about all of this, tell him everything you've told me. I'm sure he'll understand, he's your brother."

Nic shook her head tearfully, "He's my brother but he won't forgive me for this."

"Sure he will," I said confidently, "He's so confused about this whole business, he's not angry at you at all, I think he just wants his twin sister back."

Nic sniffed, "are you sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah I spoke to him the other day and he asked me about you and he just looked sad. Come on," I said, screwing the lid back on my ink bottle, "We'll go and talk to him now, just you and me."

"But, what will I do about my essay?" Nic asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Nic, I did that essay a week ago and it's already been marked and handed back to me you can just copy."

"Damnit, Rose, why didn't you tell me this before?" Nic said, stacking her books and shoving them back into her bag in frustration. I laughed slightly as I slung my bag back over my shoulder and made towards the door of the library. My homework still nagging in the corner of my mind, but I was about ninety percent sure that Bailey would rather me help reconcile his relationship with Nic than do the Arithmancy assignment that we still had at least a week left to complete.

* * *

As soon as I set foot in the common room, I knew that something was off. The normal loud chatter that greeted anyone as soon as they walked in was dulled a bit and heads turned to look at us as we stepped through and began to walk towards the boys' staircase.

"Nicolette!"

I turned to see Bailey rushing towards us and had about thirty different thoughts run through my head at once. The first being 'great, that makes my job a lot easier' and the last being 'holy shit he looks concerned what's happened now'. It was safe to say that after the next words had exited his mouth, that my last thought was more pressing that getting him and Nic to reconcile.

"Bailey..." I said, "What's wr-"

"It's Jack," he said breathlessly, "Some people, they wrote... well, you'd better see for yourself." He said gesturing up the boys' staircase. I heard a yell and a crash that clearly belonged to Jack and started to run.

* * *

**AN: Look I didn't take three months to update are you proud of me? **

**I have entered this in the Long Haul Competition II which I need desperately because this story is a perfect exhibit about how much I need that damn competition. Updates will come weekly from now until I drop out/am eliminated from the competition. **

**I'd love it if you could spare a few minutes to tell me what you thought in the review box below. **

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**Nayla xx**


	7. seven

**~ SEVEN ~**

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Nicolette said angrily, as we ran up the boys' staircase towards the thumps coming from where we knew Jack and Al's dorm was. I glanced sideways at her to see that she had not only a concerned look on her face, but an angry one as well.

We reached the landing in about ten seconds flat and immediately turned left towards their dormitory like we always did. That was when I was faced with a sight that I never thought I would see. Jack and Al's bedroom door was adorned with writing and I didn't need to be close to the door to read them. I knew immediately what they all said.

"Fuck," Nic breathed beside me, "I knew it, I knew they'd do something like this if he didn't stand up to them." She said angrily, walking forwards with her wand outstretched and muttering a vanishing charm which, unsurprisingly, didn't work, "Those bastards," Nic spat, "Those mother fucking bastards. How dare they?!"

"Nic," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder and feeling sick to my stomach as the first comment written on the door registered in my brain. _Why don't you just jump off the astronomy tower, homo, _"Calm down."

"Calm down?" Nic said, her accent slipping into French and I resigned myself for a rant that I wouldn't understand a word of, "_Du calme? __Rose, je ne vais pas me calmer! C'est mal, c'est très mal !"_

"Nicolette, if you're going to yell, yell at me in English," I said, grabbing her arm and pushing the door aside, trying very hard not to read the horrid comments that had been written on there about Jack, and something that he couldn't help being. I dragged Nic into the room behind me to see a complete tip. It looked like a niffler had been in here and hadn't been able to find anything after hours of searching. I saw Jack sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. Al was sitting opposite him and Freema and Addie were on either side, Addie with her arm around his shoulders.

"Jack," I said breathlessly, "Are you alright?"

Jack lifted his head out of his hands slowly to show me his red, puffy eyes. Albus glared at me.

"What does it look like, Rose?" he asked, shaking his head, looking like he'd just eaten a lemon.

"Shut up Al," I said, letting go of Nic's arm and moving to hug Jack. Nic just stood in the doorway, statue still, staring at Jack's appearance. I could tell that she was shocked, I was shocked too, Jack had always seemed to rise above any of the little hate that he got for being openly gay. Apparently that 'little hate' had grown into a bigger hate and it had got him badly.

"You'll be okay, Big guy," I said to him as I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, "They're just fucking dickheads. I'll hex them all into oblivion for you. Who did this, anyway?"

Jack shrugged and looked over my shoulder towards Nicolette, who had tears brimming in her eyes as well. I looked from Jack to Nicolette and back to Jack again. There was something that I was missing here, I knew it. I opened my mouth to ask what it was but Nic cut me off.

"You told me that it was all okay," she spat, "You told me that you were fine, that you'd dealt with them and now _this _happens. You lied to me Jack!"

"I thought I had dealt with them! I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't care what they said but they obviously can't take a hint can they?" Jack said, wiping some tears that had escaped his eyes away angrily, "Nic, did you read the shit that they wrote?"

"Yes," Nic said, her voice softening, "It's kind of hard not to read, Jack."

"Fucking brilliant," Jack said, slamming his fist against the wall and tears brimming over in his eyes, "Just fucking brilliant. How the hell am I supposed to exist in this fucking castle if I can't even fucking get through one day without being teased and ridiculed because I'm not normal!" Jack screamed, grabbing a bottle of ink and hurling it at Nic, she ducked just in time so that it shattered on the wall behind her.

"Jack," I said tearfully, grabbing his arm, to stop him from making even more of a mess, "You're perfectly normal, don't ever say that!"

"You think so?" Jack said darkly, "Well it sure as hell doesn't feel like I'm normal."

"But you are," Addie said, "And you're our friend, screw them, they don't matter, Jack."

"You don't understand!" Jack shrieked, "None of you understand at all! You just think that you can tell me that everything will be fine, and that I'm normal and it'll all be perfect again. But It won't. You don't fucking understand what it's like to be me. I'm not from this country, my parents were killed right in front of my eyes, I'm gay and you guys accept me so that's great but what's not so great is the fact that the rest of the fucking school thinks I'm a freak, and I can barely get through a whole day without wanting to kill myself!"

I put my hand over my mouth in shock as Addie and Freema looked on in horror. Albus looked at the ground and I could tell that he didn't know what to say. I looked to Nic but she didn't look surprised in the least.

"Jack," I said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He shrugged me off angrily, turning to face the wall. I persisted, placing my hand on his shoulder and turning him around to face me, "Please don't hurt yourself."

"I haven't Rosie," he said, "But I can't promise anything."

I bit down on my lip hard to stop myself from crying as I pulled him into another hug, "Please promise me," I begged, "Please Jack, we can help you get through this, we can fuck up these bastards so badly that they'll never mess with you again, but you have to let us help you."

Jack looked at me and shook his head, "It's not that easy Rosie, and I wish it was but it's not."

I opened my mouth to respond but found Al's hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him, slightly surprised.

"Rose, Nic, Addie, Free, I think you should leave, go back to your room, I need to talk with Jack."

One look in my cousin's eyes told me that he needed to do this and I relented immediately, "Okay," I said softly, "Let us know if you need anything."

Al nodded and I turned and started towards the door, Addie and Freema following me. Nic seemed reluctant but knew that leaving him with Al was for the best. As soon as the graffiti covered door swung shut behind us I roused on Nic.

"Nicolette Creevey you'd better tell me what the hell is going on or so help you," I said, pointing my wand at her. She put her hands in the air; her cheeks were stained with tears.

"Relax," she sniffed, "I was going to tell you anyway."

I put my wand back into my pocket and pulled myself up onto the railing that started the staircase, prompting her to start what she was going to say.

"He's been having trouble with a few guys for months now, they keep yelling stuff at him in the corridors and when he was in Hogsmeade they pissed him off so much that he squeezed one of those miniature exploding cauldrons – you know the ones that enlarge when you put them over a stove?" I nodded, "He squeezed one of them really hard and boom, the roof blew off.

"He's talked to me about it a lot, but he's never named any of them, probably thinks I'll kill them if he tells me. But mind you, he's not wrong if he does think that."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" I asked, "We could've helped."

"He didn't want me to," Nic shrugged, "I was honouring his wishes."

"God, I hope he's okay," Freema said worriedly, "If anyone can console him, It's Al, right?"

I refrained from scoffing at this statement, because even though I like to think my cousin isn't good at most things, he is really very good at comforting people.

"Come on," Nic said quietly, "It's been a long day, we should go to bed and just start afresh tomorrow."

"I am not opposing this on any levels," Addie said, rubbing her shoulder as we walked down the stairs, "I'm knackered."

"Ditto," Freema said.

"I've got to do some work," I said as we reached the common room again, "I'll be up in about an hour."

Nic rolled her eyes at me and she didn't even have to voice what she was thinking for me to get the gist. I got it more often than not from my friends when I wanted to study.

I found an empty table by the fire and spread out my work on it, unfurling the piece of parchment on which I had started my Arithmancy project earlier and began to plan the practical part of the assessment, something that Bailey had left to me because in his own words he was "rubbish with any form of practical work." It wasn't that I was any better at practical; it was just that I cared more than him about how it was going to turn out.

I found that the more I wrote down, the less I was able to concentrate and my mind wondered back to Jack, back to Scorpius and back to why he hadn't turned up to Defence against the Dark arts at all in the last semester. It was just plain strange.

"I give up," I muttered after an hour of fruitless attempts to concentrate, "This can wait until tomorrow."

I gathered up my books and wished that the walk to the dormitory wasn't as long as it was. My legs felt like lead as I ascended the stairs and I hoped that the rest of my dorm was asleep so that I wouldn't have to speak to any of them.

The lights were off and everything was silent, a blessing but a curse as I blundered around the room blindly trying to find my pyjamas before giving up and passing out on my bed fully dressed.

* * *

When I woke again, it was barely light. My uniform was doing its best to choke me and my mouth tasted like the inside of a bird cage – not that I've actually tasted the inside of a birds cage but I can judge the taste from the smell of it and it doesn't smell pleasant. I tried to turn over and go back to sleep, but after a few minutes of tossing and turning it became evident to me that I was not going to be able to get another wink of it. I was too awake now.

"Shit," I muttered, thinking that if I wasn't going to sleep I may as well finish some work.

Irritably I pulled off my uniform and pulled on my pyjamas, which were at the foot of my bed – something that I had been unable to see last night. I figured it couldn't hurt, there were still at least three hours before I had to get up for school, may as well spend them being comfortable.

As I hopped quietly out of bed and crept towards the bathroom to brush my teeth, I noticed that Ella's bed was empty and I racked my brains for where she would be and only came up with one answer, with Corey. That's where she always was nowadays. I swear she's forgotten we exist.

I walked up to her bed and pulled the hangings across like she was still in there. I knew Ella would be comfortable telling me where she was last night, but the others were a whole different story.

As I passed the window, I saw a silhouette outlined by the lake and all thoughts of brushing my teeth left my head because I knew that silhouette. The number of times I'd seen it sitting there. Scorpius Malfoy had to be one of the most insane boys I knew. Getting up early just to sit beside a lake was not something on my list of things that I enjoy doing.

I grabbed my dressing gown and pulled it on, I was going to get answers out of Malfoy today, whether it be by force of by will, I need to know why he's stopped trying to beat me in every single subject.

* * *

"Hey, Weasley," he said before I'd even asked him what he was doing out this early, "Care to watch the sunrise with me?"

"You're a strange one Malfoy," I said drawing my dressing gown tighter around me as the morning air was more than a little chilly, "You sit outside in the rain without an impervious charm on you and you get up insanely early to watch the sunrise."

"Well, Weasley, can I point out that both of those times you've had the courtesy to join me."

"Shut up, Malfoy," I said, sitting down on the rock beside him and looking out over the lake in silence. I wondered briefly how long Malfoy had been doing this for, coming out early in the morning and just sitting alone and watching the sun rise and then going back inside for breakfast. I had to admit, it was pretty calming.

"Why haven't you been in Defence against the Dark Arts?" I asked curiously, my eyes darting down to his wrist and catching sight of the mark on it again I grabbed his arm, "And I know that this," I pulled back his sleeve to look for more, but there wasn't any. I awkwardly pointed to the small dot, "Isn't just a potions burn."

Malfoy snatched his arm back with surprising strength, "I wish I could tell you," he said, "But I can't, I really can't Weasley."

"Why not?" I asked stubbornly.

"Because it's dangerous for both of us," he said.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't pull that shit on me Malfoy," I said, "Just tell me."

"You wouldn't believe me if I did," he said, getting to his feet.

"Try me?" I said, getting up after him as he started to walk along the bank of the lake.

"I can't," Scorpius said. I sighed audibly, he wasn't going to tell me any time soon but that didn't mean I wasn't going to keep pressing for information. I just had to do it subtly.

"Well if you're not going to reveal your mysterious nature, at least let me take a walk around the lake with you," I called after him. He turned around and smiled slightly.

"I'd like that," he said, "I've never had company before, this should be fun."

I laughed, "Malfoy let me clear something up. Walking around in this temperature at five in the morning is not my idea of fun."

"Let me make it fun for you then," he said with a smile. I rolled my eyes at him, "Okay then, give it your best shot."

He grinned, "I accept this challenge."

I laughed as I began walking alongside him and even though I hadn't got any answers at all out of him, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere with him, and that somewhere, for once, wasn't competing for the top spot in Defence against the Dark Arts.

* * *

**AN:** **I am amazed at my typing skills that literally only took me an hour. Why can't I do this every day? It would make my life so much easier.**

**Anyway, I had a reviewer ask for more Scorpius, and I agree, I've left him out of the story for too long so he's going to definitely be in every chapter from now on, but Rose's friends are going to share the limelight with him however, but there will definitely be more Scorpius. **

**I'd love it if you could spare the time to leave me a review with what you thought, I'd really appreciate it!**

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**Nayla xx**


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